Meet our Muse, Melody Moore: clinical psychologist, yoga instructor, author, speaker and sacred activist. She offers talks on a range of topics, including finding and living with purpose, eating disorder recovery, building a positive body image, holding safe spaces, and yoga & sacred activism. We met Melody at the Muse Conference in Bend last year and knew we had to bring her into the Oiselle family. We could go on and on, but we'll let her take it from here... 

We all have a muse within us. Not some of us, every one of us. Most of us just get confused. We reach for what’s outside of us to inspire who we are. But we can only receive from going within and listening, and honoring what we hear. Being named a Muse by both World Muse and now, Oiselle, feels not only humbling, but also a recognition that I can only wrap my head and heart around if I recognize that it’s true, not only of me, but of each of us. We are all muses. We all have the capacity to inspire, to aspire, to ignite, and to create. We were born that awesome.

I know this in my bones.

In 2010, I was able to travel to South Africa with Off the Mat, Into the World, a non-profit that activates students of yoga to use the tools of yoga off the mat. There, we visited an NGO called G.O.L.D., which stood for Generations of Leaders Developing. This organization identified and then trained adolescent peer leaders in order to informally educate teens about the truth of HIV transmission. As a Clinical Psychologist who treated adolescents, I understood the brilliance of this model. Teens listen to one another. Their peer group is their influence. Anyone who has been, has, or knows a teen can agree.

I felt inspired by G.O.L.D., and came back to the states to apply their methods to what most breaks my heart: the fact that girls today grow up in a society where they are sold the idea that their external appearance sums up their value and worth. It saddens me deeply that we are participating in a culture where girls buy into the ideas that thinner is better, that comparison is normalized, and that internalized self-critics rule the station of most of our minds, most of the time.

I encourage you to join the revolution that begins within today by finding the muse inside of you and telling her you recognize she’s there. You see her. You honor her existence and you appreciate her persistence. She’s stayed around despite whatever amount of time you’ve denied her. Then, find a way to acknowledge where you’ve muted or covered her up, without blame or judgment. If blame comes, do your best to forgive yourself—you were doing your best with the resources you had at the time—to let go of any past action that stopped you from honoring and beholding your inner muse. Now, you can be curious about her, you can interview her, you can study her and the ways that you feel her presence.  

In case your internal critics already chimed in, know this: no one will be harmed by you finding your muse again. No one will feel small or unnecessary because you are able to celebrate your gifts and creativity. This is a message I get to share through Embody Love Movement. If you know that self-love is an inside job, we are your people. And if you don’t, and are still reaching outside of you for what is already within you, we want to support you in opening room to shift your perspective. Wherever you stand in the continuum of self-acceptance, you are welcome in our movement. We are creating self-love from the inside-out. Not just for some of us, for all of us. 

- Melody Moore